In the last 10 years these companies have benefited from more than three billion dollars in uncollected customs duties on imports and have received federal benefits originally intended for rural areas.
Called to end hunger in 400 municipalities of the country where 7.4 of the 28 million Mexicans "in multi-dimensional poverty and food deprivation" live, according Sedesol data, such companies are the largest distributors of junk food that contributes to increased nutrition problems and diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, which the Secretary of Health says are the main causes of death in the country.
Yazmin Copete Zapot, ex-federal deputy and member the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), said that companies like Nestle, Pepsico (owner of Sabritas and Gamesa in Mexico), Bimbo [largest bread company], Maseca [corn flour], Minsa [corn flour], DNA, Herdez [juice], Jumex [juice], Bachoco [chicken, eggs], Sukarne [beef, pork, chicken] and Lala [milk products], along with Cargill and Monsanto, benefited from more than three billion dollars in uncollected import duties in the past 10 years, and, in 2011, received 10 billion, 376 million pesos [US$857,500,000] from the federal budget.
She also charged that
"in the last 25 years, they have destroyed the foundations of food security and devastated white corn production. The consumption of this grain as part of the Mexican diet now depends on Cargill and Monsanto, companies that impose and manipulate the domestice grain and commodities markets, having as allies Maseca, Minsa, DNA, Bachoco and Bimbo, while that the federal government denies subsidies to our farmers," Copete protested in the previous Congress last November.The inclusion of these companies in the Crusade Against Hunger, which has been presented as emblematic of the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, has also generated international reactions. Patti Rundall, leader of the International Coalition Against Conflict of Interest, recalled that in Brazil, under President Luz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Zero Hunger and Family Shopping Bag programs were introduced, but what happened when Nestlé participated in programs was that women trained to be nutritional guides became promoters of the company instead of inculcating good eating habits.
Finally, Zero Hunger was suspended due to protests by social organizations denouncing the bad effects of Nestlé products in the nutrition of children, due to their high content of sugar, salt, fat and harmful additives. Still, Lula da Silva agreed to have the Mexican government use his image to promote its "Crusade". On April 19 and 20 he will participate in several events in Mexico City, including the creation of a "mural against hunger".
Max Correa, head of the Central Campesina Cardenista (CCC) [Cardenista Farmers Center], said in an interview that the transnationals have answered the call of SEDESOL to "expiate" their sins only in appearance, by providing "gifts" to the hungry:
"In the end, through the Crusade Against Hunger, they will not spend even five pesos [US 40 cents], since their contributions are made through foundations which are tax deductible. On the contrary, thanks to the Treasury Secretariat, they will receive free advertising as big benefactors."The question was posed to him: If the subsidies received by these large companies were channeled to farmers, would there be the need for the Crusade Against Hunger?
"This year' the countryside will have subsidies of more than 300 billion pesos [US$24,792,000,000]. The problem is not the budget but the redistribution of the resources. In Mexico, the budget is not applied intelligently to ensure food self-sufficiency. This year, just through the Program for Marketing Support managed by SAGARPA (Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food) these companies will receive as 6 billion pesos [US$495,800,000], which is equivalent to 50% of the 12 billion [US$991,700,000] assigned to Procampo [Program for Direct Support to the Countryside].
"The budget has to be reoriented to the production of food grains and strategic foods by the population of the south and southwest [Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas], regions where there are the most producers and the largest number of people living below the poverty line. The budget, programs and operating rules benefit consortiums and contractors in the north and northwest. Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Sonora, Baja California, Jalisco and Guanajuato receive 70% of the farm subsidies."For example, he mentioned that the owner of SuKarne, in Sinaloa, Jesus Vizcarra, according to Forbes Mexico in its March 15 edition, is paid over two billion dollars a year. In addition, he says, former Sinaloa Governor Jesus Aguilar Padilla [now Under Secretary of Agriculture] and ex-officials of SAGARPA, Francisco Mayorga and Javier Usabiaga, the 'Garlic King', share in these benefits of political and economic power.
For Correa, it is significant that of the Forbes list of the 35 richest people in the country, 16 of them built their fortunes from the exploitation of the resources of the country and, in contrast, generate poverty and hunger among small farmers.
In an infographic that the magazine entitled "Faces of Wealth", second only to Carlos Slim was Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez and his family, with 18 billion, 200 million dollars in wealth. Among other companies, Bailleres is a major shareholder in Femsa-Coca Cola. In the fifth place on the list is Eva Gonda Rivera and family, a shareholder in the same company, with 6 billion, 600 million in wealth. In eighth place is the Servitje family, owner of Bimbo, with a fortune of 4 billion 624 million dollars.
(Extract from a report published in Proceso, Vol. 1902, already in circulation) Spanish original